Syllabus for 1206WRTG3937381

Faculty Contact Information

jmoss@faculty.umuc.edu

Course Materials

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Course Description
(Formerly COMM 393. Fulfills the general education requirement in upper-level advanced writing.) Prerequisite: WRTG 101 or ENGL 101. Recommended: WRTG 291 or WRTG 293. A comprehensive, project-based study of applied technical writing. The aim is to design and develop appropriate and effective technical documents for a variety of audiences. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: COMM 393/393X, ENGL 393/393X, WRTG 393/393X.

Course Goals/Objectives

After completing this course, you should be able to:

evaluate and apply the standards, forms, conventions, and technologies of technical writing communicate technical information effectively to a variety of audiences analyze technical communication scenarios, and design and develop appropriate and effective technical documents

Course Introduction
Technical writing is a category of professional writing that presents information related to science and technology. This course will give you practice in the kinds of writing that technical communication professionals use on the job. The focus will be on producing clear, concise writingboth for readers who have a background in technology, and for those who do not. You will practice the typical forms of technical writing, such as reports and instructions, and the conventions of technical writing, such as using graphics to complement the text. You will also be encouraged to be creative as you design and develop effective examples of technical writing applications.

Grading Information and Criteria Grading Criteria

This course consists of the following graded items:
Audience Profile (Instruction Manual) Instruction manual Proposal 10% 25% 15%

Audience Profile (Research Report) Annotated Bibliography Research Report Participation/conferences/peer responses Total

10% 5% 25% 10% 100%

The grading scale, based on 100 points, is as follows:

A= B= C= D= F= 90100 8089 7079 6069 059

Participation This 8 week course will require a committed effort to regular participation to be successful; overall, though, you'll find that this course moves at a reasonable pace that allows time to read, process, and discuss the course materials prior to any due dates. Each week of the course begins on a Monday and ends on a Sunday (at midnight in your time zone). You will be responsible for completing the course readings and discussion activities during that time. If you ever wish to "work ahead," you may consult the syllabus for upcoming reading assignments. However, course discussion activities must be completed between Monday & Sunday of the given week to maintain the flow of course interactions. You should plan on participating in online course activities on no fewer than three days per week (i.e. you might post to the classroom on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of a given week, while using other days to complete course readings and/or writing assignments). All assignments will be due by midnight Sunday, in your time zone, of the given week. Keep in mind, though, that you are never required to participate on any one of those given days. Thus, if it is impossible for you to submit assignments on a Sunday, for example, you may do so earlier in the week. No assignments will be accepted more than 24 hours late without prior approval. Please note that because this course is focused on writing as a process involving multiple stages, no extra credit work will be granted for assignments not listed in the syllabus.

You are expected to adhere to the general rules of online etiquette. To prepare to use the online conferences, you should read the notes on WebTycho Participation and Online Etiquette. Keep those notes handy; you may need to refer to them during the semester. Final Project Assessment In lieu of a final examination, this course will have a final project assessment.

Additional Information
Course Content All of the Course Content will be available to you from the start of the course. It is not necessary for you to review all of it at once, though. The syllabus and weekly conferences will guide you through the content. The course activities and graded assignments hold you responsible for being familiar with all content within the reading assignments, including the textbook, modules, and any tutorials or lectures. Each week affords you plenty of opportunity to ask questions about or seek clarification on any of these materials. Grammar This is not a course on grammar basics. However, mastery of basic grammatical concepts is considered a prerequisite for this course, as it will be in the workplace. Each assignment rubric (see Course Content) does assign scores for grammatical accuracy. The Grammar for Busy Adults link under Course Content provides quick & easy grammar lessons that are designed to address the most common errors made in workplace communications. Please review these lessons at your leisure. Submission of Original Work "All work submitted must be written for this course during the term in which the course is being completed. Work from other courses or from other academic or non-academic settings, past or present, is not acceptable and may be subject to immediate failure. No opportunities for resubmission or revision will be granted.

When assignments involve research, students may make reference to work originally submitted for other courses or other settings. If students wish to submit extensively revised or expanded work previously submitted in this or another course, they must obtain the approval of the class instructor in advance."

Project Descriptions

Audience Analysis Knowing one's audience is an essential step in planning any document, especially when writing instructions. This assignment will give you practice in researching and evaluating the characteristics and needs of your intended readers. Instruction Manual Instruction manuals are very common in the field of technical writing. This assignment will give you practice in writing clear, detailed instructions, with appropriate visuals, for a specific audience. Proposal To help you plan the research project you will conduct during the second half of the course, you will prepare a planning proposal that includes a description of the project, a research plan, and a schedule. Annotated Bibliography You will identify five research sources relevant to your final presentation topic. These sources will be analyzed through development of a formal Annotated Bibliography, presented in APA style.

Final Presentation The presentation will propose a technology orientated solution to a real world problem. The final presentation topic will be developed in multiple stages: proposal, audience analysis, annotated bibliography, and presentation. Each stage will receive an individual grade. Detailed explanations are provided in the assignment rubric for each portion of the assignment. These can be located in Course Content. Participation/Conferences Each week, you will be asked to join discussions and do activities in the conferences. You should be prepared to complete the readings before participating in the discussions and posted activities. The activities will help you understand and apply the concepts presented each week. They will also help you make progress toward completing your four graded assignments. Conferences are the most important area in our online classroom for you to interact with other students and with the instructor. For this course, it is through conferences that we will engage in debate and discussion as a group about the course readings and concepts. Thus, you are required to participate in each of the weekly conferences. A detailed set of guidelines for conference participation will be provided by your instructor.

Academic Policies
Academic Integrity UMUC is an academic community that honors integrity and respect for others; and it is expected that as a member of this community, you will maintain a high level of personal integrity in your academic work at all times. Academic dishonesty is the failure to maintain academic integrity and includes the intentional or unintentional presentation of another person's idea or product as one's own (plagiarism) and/or the use or attempt to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise and/or doing work for another student

(cheating). All academic work you submit during your time at UMUC should be original work for each of your courses. Turnitin.com The university has a license agreement with Turnitin, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from Internet resources. Your instructor may use this service in this class, either by requiring you to submit your papers electronically to Turnitin or by submitting questionable text to verify originality and proper citation of sources. If you object to the temporary storage of your paper on Turnitin, your instructor may use other services to check your work for plagiarism. Course Expectations For an eight-week course, students should expect to spend about six hours per week in class discussion and activities (online or on-site) and two to three times that number of hours outside the class in study, assigned reading, and preparation of assignments. Courses offered in shorter formats will require more time per week. Students are expected to achieve the same intended learning outcomes and do the same amount of work in an online course as they would in an on-site course. Active participation is required in all online courses, and students should expect to log in to their online courses several times a week. The following links to important academic policies and other information are provided to help you as you complete your coursework at UMUC. Policies and Procedures

Policy and Procedures on Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, and Sexual HarassmentNondiscrimination: It is the policy of UMUC that no student or employee of the university or contractor/vendor conducting business with the university may discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, sex (including sexual harassment), marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, mental or physical disability, or sexual orientation. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against because of any factor protected under this policy may file a complaint of discrimination. Information on Support for Disabled Students University System of Maryland Board of Regents' Policy on Academic Integrity UMUC's Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism UMUC's Policy on the Grade of Incomplete, Grade Pending, and Withdrawal UMUC's Policy on the Code of Student Conduct

UMUC's Policy and Procedures for Review of Alleged Arbitrary and Capricious Grading

For more information about student services and more general information, visit UMUC's website at http://www.umuc.edu.

Course Schedule
Date

Assignments
Introduction, Writing Process, Audience, Purpose Readings:

Due Date

Markel, chaps. 1, 3 (pp. 41-47), 5

Module 1 & 2, including podcasts

Week 1
What Is Due: Post introduction in introduction conference Memo about instruction manual topic Week 1 conference topics due Definitions, Instructions, Technical Description Readings: Markel, chaps. 13 (pp. 346356) & 20 Module 3, including podcast Try Exercise 3.7, Improving Instructions, in the module 3 commentary What Is Due: Audience Profile discussion Complete How to Avoid Plagiarism tutorial and post certificate to assignment folder Week 2 conference topics due Design, Graphics, Collaboration

1-July

Week 2

8-July

Week 3 Readings:
Markel, chaps. 4, 11 & 12

15-July

EWC Document Design Workshop What is due:

Audience Profile for Instruction Manual

Draft Instructions posted to study group for usability analysis Week 3 conference topics due Technical Writing Style, Research, Citing Sources Readings: Markel, chaps. 6, 9, 10 & appendices Hacker, APA Documentation section What is due: Instruction Manual with Usability Analysis and Reflection Paper Week 4 conference topics due Proposals Readings: Markel, chaps. 7, 8 & 16 Text/Graphics Integration (in Course Content)

Week 4

22-July

Week 5

What Is Due: Assignment (Proposal)

29-July

Week 5 Conference Topics due. Formal Reports, Summaries Readings: Markel, chap. 19 Module 4, including podcast EWC Reports Workshop What is due: Audience profile for analytical report Week 6 Conference Topics due Revising Documents Readings: Markel, chaps. 3 (pp. 5154), 13 (pp. 342346

Week 6

5-August

Week 7
What is due:

12-August Working Annotated Bibliography

Week 7 conference topics due Informational Reports, Ethics, Fair Use

Week 8

19-August

Readings: Markel, chaps. 2, 17 What is due: Assignment (Analytical Report) and Reflection Paper due Week 8 conference topics due